Morning journal and courier., 1887-05-25
THE TH1sTLE's SAIL AREA.
Wonderful Spread of Canvas on the
 Scotch Cutter.

From the Boston Herald.l
 The sail area of the Scotch cutter Thistle is very large, especially her club topsall, and if one can judge of the area from the picture, it is larger than the sail area of either the Mayfower or the new sloop. The club topsai1 is much larger than that of the new sloop, and her mast and spars seemed to be longer when compared with the size of her hull. In the Thistle Mir. Watson has turned out remarkably pow- erful boat, and he also has put great ''dri- wing power" on her.
 Now that the sail plan has been pulp lished the Thistle is more than ever to be dreaded, and the result of the coming races must be in great doubt. Captain Charles Barr, of the cutter Shona, expected that the Thistle would carry large sail area, but he was a little surprised at the inn- mense size of the club topsail. Such a large topsail in 8 breeze will have ten- dency to put the Thistle at 8 great angle of heel, and she may be forced to sail on her uppers.
 MT. Watson has no doubt made calcula- tions, and he must know pretty we'll how much the Thistle will be able to stand. The hoist to the mainsai1 and length of gait seem to be of the same length, while the boom is, nearly as long as her water lfne- length. The topmast also seems to be longer than those on the big American sloops, and great strain must como upon it on account of the large topsail. In her sheer the Thistle is not unlike the Mayfower. As yet the draught of the Thistle is not known, but it is evil dent she must be quite deep, with a great amount of ballast low down, in order to stand up and be able to carry her enormous sail area. Her performances with the cutter Irex will be anxiously awaited. Captain Charles Barr, of the Shona thinks that If the Thistle can beat the Irex tsn minutes over forty mile course her chances of win ming the American cup are of the best. There is no criterion by which to judge as between the Irex and the Mayhower, but enough is known of the performances of the Galatea with the Irex and the Mayflower to warrant the statement that the Thistle will have to beat the Irex more than ten minutes to win the cup. The Mayiower, according to good judges, is about fifteen minutes fast CT than the Irex over forty mile course un- der good conditions.
 The Glasgow Mail says of the Scotch cut ter: ''The Thistle, specially designed and built for the purpose of racing for the cove ted America cup, was recently launched from Messrs. D. 6 W. Hendsrson's yard. Her dimensions are: Length on load water line, eighty-ive feet; length per customs, ninety-eight feet; breadth, extreme, 20.3 feet; depth, Al feet; tonnage, one hundred tons. She was built by Messrs. & ". Henderson & Co.,, designed by G. L. Wat SOD, while the sails were made by 'Messrs. Ratseys & Lapthorne, of Cowes. The This | tie is owned by MT. James Bell and several others. The launch took place at two o'clock, Mrs. Watson, the mother of the | designer, naming the vessel in presence of 8 l large company. The yacht took the water beautifully and was then taken round to the 1 crane, where her mast was shipped. She 1 afterward left in tow for Gourock bay. The | material of which the hull is constructed is l Siemens-Martins mild steel, the lead keel bal I last being run into the circular keel plate, | L III. = l. | as is usually done. Her spars are made of l finest Oregon pine sticks. In the designing | of this vessel Mir. Watson has considerably 1 departed from his earlier famous yachts 1 Vanduarara, Wendur and Majorie-the This l tie having much more beam than either of | the yachts named. She is much rounder on l the sides, and has a flare up from the load | water line toward the rail, which will be of great advantage to her in standing the enor- | nous press of canvas which it is intended l she will carry. She has 8 clipper stem, topped with huge thistle in lieu of figure head, the scroll of the trail boards being re- lieved with arms and motto of the Scottish nation-Nemo me impune lacessit. A short glance at the yacht suficed to show that she
 has a considerable oTerhang of stem and | stern. The former will enable her to carry
 her head sails well forward. which of course
 will necessitate the mast being stepped near
 CT the stem than is customary in cutter I | ceptionally large mainsail. The sternpost 1 shows considerable rake, and with some cam. l Der in the keel still admits of easy quarters
 and a clean run. The enormous spars of the
 vessel and her great area of canvas have
 called for very powerful lines in the hull and
 an exceptional strength in internal fasten
 ings. The hull up the covering board is
 plated with Siemens-Martins steel of the
 best quality, the lower plates being three quarters of an inch thick and the upper five
 sixteenths. The frames, of an unusua
 strength, are tied by steel diagonals, string CTS, keelsons and foorings, forming a net
 work of the seeurest description. The walk
 of the rigging is exceptionally strengthened by perforated bracket frames, and plate
 frames have been used forward to proven
 the panting which may occur in such rough
 weather as the Atlantic passage may incur
 Partial bulkheads give further strength to
 the cutter, and forward collision bulkhead
 will give protection from the enterprisine steamers that interfere with American yacht
 races. Clyde yachtsmen are looking forward
 hopefully to the contest, and are confident
 that MT. G. L. Watson's new boat will vii
 back sthe cup to this country-and to tn
 Clyde"
 According to late advices the Thistle
 showed wonderful speed, and those interest
 ed in her believe that she will win the cup
 She was logged for two hours and MT. Wat
 son is perfectly satisfied with her perfor 1 nance.